Parsing Dorn
By Martin Harris 

It’s in the nature of politics, I suppose, for any chief executive officer, in response to the publication of adverse news about his command, to send forth one of his lieutenants to spin the publicity as favorably as possible. Thus, when Forbes Magazine published yet another of those state-by-state comparisons which show Vermont near the top of the pile in various aspects of taxation and expenditure and near the bottom of the pile in various indicators of business growth and capital formation, it wasn’t much of a surprise when Montpelier reacted, predictably, in now-standard public-relations fashion. The Eagle (and other newspapers) were quickly offered for publication a "timely op-ed from Commerce and Community Development Director Kevin Dorn providing his perspective on this ranking…" the blurb for the proffered rebuttal coming from the pen of David Mace, erstwhile member of Middlebury’s own Fourth Estate some years back and now in government service (Director of Communications) himself. The comparison was one showing Vermont as 32 out of 50 States (well below average) in "business climate", specifically phrased as "Best States to Do Business In".

Actually, there was somewhat more "bad news" (only if you consider having a business-hostile climate a bad thing, and it’s likely that an actual voting majority in Vermont, any more, doesn’t) in the Forbes study: it shows Vermont as 40 out of 50 in Growth Prospects, 45 out of 50 in Business Costs, 35 out of 50 in Regulatory Environment. It also shows Vermont as 10 out of 50 in Quality of Life, and so, predictably, Mr. Dorn emphasized that single bright spot in his first paragraph, after an Executive Summary which pledges to "focus on fostering a favorable economic environment."

He goes on to say that "employers in Vermont, and outside, view the business environment in Vermont as unpredictable…largely the results of legislative proposals…" but the State-by-State comparison numbers are not so tentative. Employer conclusions have already been shaped and they say, conclusively, 32 out of 50 in the specific area of "business climate". It’s not a fear of coming legislation (legislative proposals) but of known patterns of legislative behavior, at both State and local levels, which have shown by example the multiple ways in which government action can deny and has denied a company the right to highway usage (OMYA), lowered its revenues (CVPS and GMP) prevented on-site expansion (C&S) and so on. Not predictive theory but historical facts.

Mr. Dorn pledges the Administration to "lowering the cost of living" (which, I’d guess, means taxes and not tamales) and "expediting the permit process" (which I’d guess, means private-sector applicants, not public-sector ones who already have carte blanche to build courthouses in swamps) but, in the legislative session just past, it punted on both. It chose to draw no real line in the sand regarding growth in school spending (and resulting taxation) and likewise chose not to fix a now-highly-subjective permit process by calling for a return to "zoning-as-of-right", the basic principle whereby an applicant whose proposal meets all published planning and zoning requirements gets a permit (as things now stand, frequently, he doesn’t) without being stalled, denied, or hassled –extorted-- for give-backs in the form of conservation zones or reduced development. Instead, Montpelier pushes government-subsidized affordable housing.

Even as Mr. Dorn was fine-tuning his rebuttal to Forbes’ scoring, another major employer was pulling what it could out of Vermont, as OMYA announced plans to ship its headquarters to Ohio (the quarries will stay). The company’s CEO is gracious enough to resist connecting his decision to flee to the recent official denial of OMYA’s right to run 30 extra trucks on US 7, a road which presently carries, daily, more than 11,000 vehicle transits through Brandon) but you can reasonably surmise that there was a cause-and-effect linkage. In its commentary, The Rutland Herald chose not to address employer opinions as measured by Forbes, but opined, of the OMYA departure, "If You Fix It, They Will Stay", advocating more taxes for state-wide infra-structure in general. I’d opine, in this opinion column "If You Hassle Them, They Will Leave". And I see no tangible indication of any interest, in Montpelier, in reducing either taxes or the official hassle factor from their present out-migration-encouraging levels.

Martin Harris is a former Chairman of Citizens for Property Rights